Woodland home to be built for wounded warrior

Staff Sgt. Alejandro Jauregui will soon call Woodland home thanks to a nonprofit organization that builds houses for injured veterans across the U.S.

Jauregui, 29, lost both legs and suffered extensive injuries to his right hand and forearm when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan two years ago.

To assist Jauregui in his recovery, Homes for Troops volunteers will begin construction on Jauregui's new home next week, starting with a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. on Saturday at 19709 Road 94A in Woodland.

The house will be customized for Jauregui's disability, with wide hallways, doors and ramps for his wheelchair.

"The house being built for me will be completely handicap accessible all way from the kitchen, sinks, bathroom the whole thing," he said.

Jauregui's "biggest hurdle" has been using the bathtub at his mother's house in Williams. It has a sliding glass door, making it "really hard to transfer from my chair to the bathtub because of the door rails."

He lives in the three-bedroom house with his mother Maria, step-father Juan, wife IsaMarie, and his three children. Jauregui admits the home is small for seven people, and is looking forward to moving to Woodland once his customized home is built.

Prior to moving back to Williams, Jauregui was living in North Carolina, where he was stationed before the accident.

He found out about the organization from another "wounded warrior" who was also getting a house built, and he applied. When he heard he has been accepted into the program, he was "super excited" because it was the perfect opportunity to move back to California to be closer to his family.

Jauregui is no stranger to Yolo County, having grown up the middle child in the Williams household. He graduated from Williams High School in June 2003, joining the U.S. Army the following month, following in the footsteps of an admired friend.

He continued to serve until his recent April retirement.

In those 11 years, Jauregui was deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan twice, for a total of 42 months in combat.

On April 8, 2012 during his fourth combat tour, Jauregui stepped on a dismounted IED, resulting in the loss of both legs, part of his right hand, and most of the hearing in his right ear, with additional shrapnel wounds to his right forearm.

After the initial blast, Jauregui recalls his vision becoming blurry and his ears ringing while being dragged away by a fellow soldier. The sights and sounds of the momentary chaos were unlike no other experience he had known in combat, which up to that point he had endured unscathed.

"I was conscious for the whole thing. As soon as I stepped on it, I knew it was me who had stepped on the device just from being in multiple IED explosions. This one was different," Jauregui recalled. "I kept trying to sit up and see how bad it was but my buddy kept pushing me down and telling me I was going to be OK."

When Jauregui asked those around him how badly he was injured, a fellow soldier gave him the brutal truth that he would likely lose his legs. With no medic and no morphine to ease the pain of his burning legs, Jauregui found comfort in the familiar voices of brothers coming to his immediate aid, all the while urging him to stay conscious until MEDEVAC arrived.

Although he could not keep his eyes open or blink to signal his alertness, Jauregui responded with a thumbs up, but moments later he was non-communicative.

"The last thing I remember before losing conscious from loss of blood was somebody saying we were five minutes out," he said.

After being wounded he was flown to a field hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, followed by hospitals in Landstuhl, Germany, and Bethesda, Md., where he received extensive rehabilitative therapies.

Jauregui plans on extending his career with the federal government by possibly working for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol or the Transportation Security Agency. If that is not possible, he said he would like to pursue a degree in orthotics or prosthetics.

Jauregui is looking forward to moving into his new home — one that will help him regain his independence.